Hai Tech Eric

The Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect-IP Act being proposed in both the House and the Senate has been fast-tracked. Why?

UPDATE: Round of applause to the 13 million people who stood up on protest day. PIPA and SOPA are tabled for now.

I can only think of one logical reason this legislation is being forced to move through Congress so quickly, and that is because its proponents do not want the public to become aware of how the Internet and innocents will be mutilated if it were to pass. Shutting down a site without due process is the first step to developing the next great firewall like China has done. Since there are already clearly documented cases of DMCA abuse, what makes you think that content companies won’t abuse SOPA and PIPA in a similar manner?

This legislation needs to be stopped in its tracks. Protectionist movements as opposed to developing new and innovate business models will only serve to hinder our country’s and the world economy, not to mention the far-reaching damage that these laws would cause to the infrastructure and security of the Internet. Even worse, the proposed technical methods of curtailment would not even be effective against real pirates that companies should be targeting. PIPA wants to tamper with the global DNS, an Internet technology that is already plagued with security issues.

 
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

I am a professional in the Internet and Software industry. I can appreciate the need to combat piracy, but I also know that the proponents of this legislation are failing to consider the bigger picture. Laws like these are only serving to hurt real consumers and businesses, not pirates.

DRM measures hurt consumers